Even Trump voters overwhelmingly support LGBT+ rights, proving homophobia won’t win the 2020 election
Donald Trump speaks to reporters on his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on September 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty)
Trump voters overwhelmingly support LGBT+ rights, according to a new study, suggesting the president’s focus on homophobia disguised as religious freedom might not have as much impact as he thinks.
The poll, conducted by Hart Research Associates and the Human Rights Campaign, used data from Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas on 400 likely voters in each state.
White Trump-supporting Republicans are usually assumed to be staunchly anti-LGBT+, the poll found that across the board participants were in favour of marriage equality, adoption rights and trans people serving in the US military.
Out of all the questions on LGBT+ equality, Texas was the only state where voters showed a majority negative attitude towards a single LGBT+ rights issue, as 51 per cent supported laws that would allow businesses to discriminate based on religious beliefs.
At least 60 per cent of Trump voters in every state surveyed felt that trans people should be able live freely and openly, and at least 87 per cent supported equal access to medical care for trans people.
Trump voters in almost every one of the 10 states were more likely to support the Equality Act, which would protect LGBT+ people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, than oppose it, with the exception being Georgia. In Michigan, support and opposition were equal.
Despite a Republican obsession with trans athletes, when participants were asked what issues would be most important to them when deciding their vote, transgender people participating in sports came in “dead last”. In most states between one and three per cent of people said this would be a top issue for them.
The three main takeaways from the survey, according to researchers, were that Joe Biden and pro-equality Democratic Senate candidates were in very strong positions as election day closes in, that voters have “clear and abiding support for LGBT+ equality across a host of issues”, and that “voters have no interest in seeing transgender people demonised or having basic rights for transgender people used as political footballs”.
According to USA Today, JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and political affairs for the Human Rights Campaign said: “We see the polls that basically tell us youth and young adults… that one in five identify as LGBT+.
“And how many people are touched by those kids coming out at these younger ages? It feels like a secret, but it’s not such a secret that we’re in everybody’s families. The evangelical family is having LGBT+ kids.”
She added: “I think if you look at this in its entirety, the thing that is missing for many conservatives out there is that they think LGBT+ issues are a really big wedge. And those days are gone.”
